Away rotations?

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tulip08

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I'm an M3 interested in ophthalmology. I was wondering if anyone felt strongly one way or another about doing away rotations. I really want to stay at my medical school for residency so i dont really see the point of doing away rotations. Any advice?

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If you really want to stay at your medical school, do so.

Rather than do two months of ophthalmology as a 4th year, do one month and do a month of ortho, ENT, urology, nephrology, or anything else. The 4th year is not the time to be lazy and not learn anything.
 
Definitely do an away if you can(in June/July/August. You can possibly get another LOR if you do it early enough from a well known ophthalmologist at another program to have in your application. This may open a few more doors for interviews. Literally programs will grant an interview based off the fact that someone in the program who saw your application personally knew the letter writer in some capacity. Also, if you do it a program that you think you may want to be a part of, you can get another interview, which always increases your match possibility. In addition, although you may want to stay at your program, it is never a guarantee that your program will rank you high enough to match there, especially if there are others in your class going into ophthalmology. In ophthalmology a back-up plan is always good to have. Why waste your time doing an ortho rotation when you could be auditioning at an ophthalmology program. Honestly once you get into the ins and outs of ophthalmology as a fourth year, the work becomes second nature and an audition can be more pleasurable than a "chore". Matching is no guarantee. Just check out the threads on people who did not match with stellar resumes.

Programs do not like filling their residency with only residents from their medical school, so no matter how much you love your program, they may have other plans for ranking applicants when rank order lists are due. One more interview from an audition(which I assume they will like you) can make the difference between matching and not matching. The last thing you want to do is regret not doing another away in favor of doing some random rotation for fun.

Personally I do not see the point in doing orthopedic surgery or urology or whatever else thats intensive unless they really excite you or your school makes you for some reason. You worked your tail off to be a competitive applicant for ophthalmology, so don't waste your time getting up for 5:30 am rounds to learn how to fix a humeral fracture or watch a transurethral resection of the prostate as a fourth year medical student. Waste of time and energy. Unless, of course, learning that information excites you. Save some easy rotations/free time second semester. Get your bare minimum requirements done and relax/travel/party etc. This may be the last time you can "relax" for any extended period of time for a very very very long time.
 
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I have to disagree with EyeGuy15. I did not do any aways because my home program was strong.

In general, do aways if you know you will shine, if your home program is weak, if you have a particular program you want to go to.

Doing an away to get an "extra letter" is particularly silly especially if everyone of your attendings at your home program is more famous than the program you are visiting. Let’s be honest, how well will the letter writer at the program you visit for 3 weeks really know you. You better make an impression on day 1. I have read excellent letters - they do not come from letter writers who know an applicant for 2 weeks...

If I were to do an away, there would be one goal in mind - meeting the residency director and showing him/her I am a normal person who is ready to work hard if they gave me an opportunity to do so. Making a positive impression on current residents is also important. In general, I believe you will be disappointed more times than not if you show up hoping to obtain a letter that will save your application.
 
True. My home program was a small middle tier program so I felt another outside letter may supplement my home letter well, so I did an away at a top five institution. Although I did not think the program was right for me in the end, I got a very strong letter after rotating with one attending for a month and he made it pretty obvious he was going to write a strong LOR. A couple of places I interviewed at had faculty who trained under that attending and knew him quite well so I felt that this was my "in". Like I said though, even if you LOVE your home program, with some graduating classes producing 10+ students going into ophthalmology, it is not realistic to bank on a guarantee from your home program. Not everyone matches at their "number one". Just the facts of matching.

If you think you can shine, an away can be helpful. 200UL is right. Do not just show up and "hang out" for a couple weeks, but I am assuming you will put in the work to be a beast on the rotation for 3-4 weeks. I still think doing an ophtho away at a program/location that interests you is better than wasting your time doing a rotation in some random field to fill time in your schedule. You never know. You may end up loving that program more than your home program.
 
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